SBA makes $5.1 million in oil spill disaster loans in Alabama

MOBILE, Ala. -- The U.S. Small Business Administration has made 42 disaster loans in Alabama totaling $5.1 million as a result of the oil spill, an agency spokesman said today.

That's 13 percent of the 324 loans made across parts of four Gulf of Mexico states, but 18 percent of the total of $27.9 million that's been loaned, because the average loan in Alabama so far is more than $121,000, the highest of any state.

The agency said today that it will close its Orange Beach office at 5 p.m. Wednesday, because of lack of traffic.

The money can be used to make monthly payments on existing debt, but can't be used to totally refinance it, Higgins said.

"There weren't a whole lot of them," he said. "The impression I got is people are averse to taking out more debt."

Businesses and nonprofit groups in Mobile, Baldwin, Clarke, Escambia and Monroe counties are eligible for the loans.

Businesses can borrow money at 4 percent interest for up to 30 years, while non-profit groups can borrow at 3 percent interest. The agency loans varying amounts of money on different terms, depending on a borrower's finances.

Entities that took out previous disaster loans and are experiencing financial problems because of the spill can ask that payments be deferred.